NEWARK -- Villanova is the No. 4 team in the country, and will be even higher in the next poll. The Wildcats are a true heavyweight -- the dominant team in the Big East and a legitimate Final Four contender.

Seton Hall, still looking to prove its NCAA Tournament credentials, had the look of a contender and went toe-to-toe with Villanova and had the Wildcats the ropes on Thursday night. But the Pirates couldn't land the knockout blow. Several chances to extend or win the game went through their fingers before Seton Hall fell to Villanova, 72-71, at Prudential Center.

Sophomore point guard Isaiah Whitehead shook off a slow first half to take over the game down the stretch and finished with a game-high 21 points. But he couldn't get a shot to fall in the final two minutes.

"Obviously we take away the good things and we try to eliminate all the bad things in practice," Whitehead said. "I mean, we lost. So there's really not a lot of good things that we can take away from it, except that we all played extremely hard and we all wanted to win."

Whitehead gave the Pirates their first lead of the second half with a 3-pointer off an assist from Angel Delgado with 2:28 left at 69-67, sending the crowd of nearly 9,000 into a frenzy, finally rewarding the defense that had kept them in the game all night long. But Seton Hall wouldn't get another field goal, and Villanova scored five of the game's final seven points to pull out the win.

A Daniel Ochefu layup off an assist from Ryan Archidiacono tied the score at 69. After missed 3-pointers from Khadeen Carrington and Whitehead, the Pirate defense failed to switch onto Archidiacono as he drove for what turned out to be the game-winning layup that made it 71-69.

"We both made plays," Whitehead said. "But they made a bigger play than us and that's why they won the game in the final minute."

Derrick Gordon had his shot blocked by Ochefu on Seton Hall's next possession. But the Villanova big man missed two free throws on the team's next possession, and Whitehead grabbed the rebound on the second. He pushed the ball in transition and missed a quick jumper with 12 seconds left.

"I just figured it would be better to not let them set their defense up, just get an offensive rebound and just push it," Whitehead said. "But I came up short, so I guess it wasn't a good play."

The Seton Hall defense was stellar throughout most of the night and forced a turnover after Whitehead's miss, but then gave the ball right back with an errant inbounds pass. Josh Hart made just one of two free throws to make it a three-point game, but Mikal Bridges fouled Whitehead at midcourt with three seconds left before he could attempt a 3-pointer. He made both free throws even though he was attempting to miss the second for a potential tip-in and the score was 72-71.

Delgado stole the ensuing inbounds pass, but it was near midcourt and his desperation heave was off the mark.

Though Whitehead was critical of his final shot, coach Kevin Willard backed up the play of his star guards after the game.

"I have a lot of confidence in Isaiah and Khadeen. And although they're sophomores, I'm going to let them try to make plays towards the end of the game. They have tremendous confidence in themselves, which they should have, and we've just got to learn from those possessions how to get a better one," Willard said. "I'm going to let them do what they do best, and that's play."

Several players said that this was the type of loss that could have snowballed for last season's team, but that this year's squad is better suited to take the positives and not the negatives from this game -- the ferocious defense and timely shots that kept them in the game and gave them a chance to win it, not the missed opportunities at the end.

"This is a game that you've got to take a lot of positives from," Willard said. "We'll learn from the things that we didn't do well, especially towards the end of the game. You learn from that, we play the way we play, we'll be good."